1 hen dead, 1 hen very ill

[chickenman111]

This morning I found one of my hens lying dead in the chicken run, and I found another hen down in the roosting room, she's a little better now, up moving a little. I checked the dead hen, and the other one, but there are no apparent injuries, no sign of mites, or worms, and they were fine yesterday. Any ideas on what happened?

 

[casportpony]

Many things it could be... If you live in the US you should contact your State Vet and ask about getting a necropsy. Many States, like CA and TN do backyard poultry for free.


http://www.usaha.org/Portals/6/StateAnimalHealthOfficials.pdf

-Kathy

 

[casportpony]

This is how I send mine:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/799747/how-to-send-a-bird-for-a-necropsy-pictures

-Kathy

 

[chickenman111]

ok, I'll look into it

 

[chickenman111]

The other hen died during the night. I checked the one that died yesterday again, I had noticed she had a floppy neck, I thought she just hadn't gone stiff, but her neck was still floppy, and appears to be broken. Any ideas why that would be?

 

[casportpony]

That's normal. They die, go stiff, then floppy.
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rigor_mortis

-Kathy

 

[Tatianna]

Kathy is right... you should definitely send them for necropsy. You never know what they could have or transmit.